The Republican journal., 1887-11-10
A Lincolnville Mystery.

Near sixty years ago providence located your
correspondent in that charming portion of the
town of Lneolnvilc known rs the Fletcher
neighborhood. In childhood's days we thought
III lovely spot. About one third of the prime
val forest was then standing. The farms We're
well cultivated, mountain, hill, vale ard plain,
scanned and divided by brooks and streams.
dotted on every land by ponds and lakes, that
glittcred beneath the golden sunbeamS like
FURNISHED silver. But the gem of them all,
"to my untravelled feet" that often turned that
way, was the Fletcher pond that nestled at the
foot OF the moody mountain" Your summer
tourist. tired of east wind and fog will be of
the same opinion | am sure. if he or she Jour-
neys to that favored locality. This neghhor-
hood has ever been highly respectable one
peaceable and quiet as any in the state.
Some ninety or Il hundred years since the
early settlers of that locality We're greatly cX-
cited and disturbed over the mysterious and
unaccountabe disappearance of one of their
number, Il young married lady, on whose fate
the lapse of near a century has Shed no light
at the time to which we refer, most of the
farms where the soil was good, had been entered
for settlement, clearings had been made more
or less extensive. and rude habitationS raised
thereon. when Il man by the name of Hilton.
with his wife, settled on what was afterwards
known as tho Cox farm and still later as the
Whtmore place. about three fourth> of mile
from the Fletcher pond. There We're few
acres of cleared land and Il small house on the
| place at the time when Hilton moved into the
| Very neighborhood. One pleasant day. not
long after iillton's settlement in the place. bis
| wife visited at Mr.. jonathan Fletcher's. Mrs.
| Fletcher described her As a we'll dressed. tiue
appearing woman, with whose appearance She
was much pleased. Mrs. III. remained at Dea-
| con Flctcher's till after tea, but starte, fur
home, some three foGrths of mile distant, be-
| fore sunset, but she never reached her journeys
| end. Her husband declared that he had not
seen anything of her. after she left home to
| make the call on Mrs Fletcher. Careful! search
| revealed no trace Of the missing woman. There
was, as is usual in such cases. suspicion of foul
| play which was never, however. >ubstantiated
| by any evidence worthy of consideration. The
| people We're all agog and the search for proofs
became intensely exciting and the field for go>
| sip aud surmi>c was fruitful one.
| Search was from time to tim, renewed with
| increased vigilance. as suspicion of crime be-
| came prevalent in the community, but renewed
search afforded no light as to What had become
| of the lost woman. We can have little con-
| ception how completely isolated the people OF
Maine We're. who twet few miles inland a
century ago Tie telegraph, the railroad and
| their offspring. the daily paper. We're among
the unknown factors of civilization, and what
took place hundred miles away was less
| known than what now takes place OH the east
ern continent. But if their wori was vision
bound, everything that tranSpiret within their
| limited range was nlgnilc,i and intensified
and the feeling in the community where this
mysterious event occurred was no doubt a> i'll
| tense As what we have seen take place lately in
the Barron case in the town of EuNtcr.
As last resort to gain light upon the uli-
solved prolem 4 sclf-consttuted committee
went to CaStne, then the emporium of ali
| ''down East, to consult one Burgoync, who
had great fame in the land as a seer OF wizard.
The community at that time, like saul of Old,
believed it IN act of worldly wisdom. to con-
suit such people whcn ever there WAS any
information to DC gained and religious duty
to burn or hang them. if their information
proved correct. rs that WAS proof positive that
they were children Of thc devil. The story
goes that Burgoync informed the cnt uircT>
that Mrs. Hilton was murdered, and that the
body was cut and barreled up. and the barrel
and contents thrown into the Fletcher pond,
and Oh the strength of this story. the pond
was searched with Great diligence, but no in
telligencc OF Tie missing one was obtained.
| Perhaps aS a sequel OF the Sootli->avcr> state
mcnt, Il lad who lived With Deacon Fletcher at
the TIME. chancel to pass by the pond ore night
and saw, or thought he saw something white
rise out of the pond. 1t might have been Il
loon or something of that kind that he saw,
but the fellow was SO sure it was the ghost ul
the murdered woman. that he would scarcely
60 to the door after dark, much less 90 Hear
the pond in the night time. But what became
of Mrs. Hilton has remained @n uu>olIvd
mystery, from that hour till TIN present time.
and will no doabt continue the saline through
all coming time. Camden Herald.